Billionaire Family Offices Join Berkshire’s UnitedHealth Bet

(Bloomberg) — Some of the world’s wealthiest people joined Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in buying shares of embattled insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. in the second quarter.

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George Soros’ investment firm, the family office of a Swedish packaging dynasty and Michael Platt’s BlueCrest Capital Management all increased their stakes in UnitedHealth last quarter, according to 13F filings published Thursday.

The disclosed investments sent shares soaring and are a rare bright spot of late for UnitedHealth, which has largely struggled since one of its top executives was fatally shot in New York City in December. The health-care company, which is under federal investigation related to Medicare billing practices, delivered dual shocks to investors when it slashed its financial outlook in April and its chief executive officer abruptly resigned in May.

The tumult appears to have raised its appeal for resourced investors known for contrarian and value wagers, including hedge fund billionaire David Tepper, whose Appaloosa Management raised its stake by 2.3 million shares, making the insurer its second-biggest holding.

UnitedHealth shares jumped 14% to $308.84 at 1:16 p.m. in New York. Berkshire’s stake alone is worth about $1.6 billion.

Family offices also leaned into tech last quarter, with Soros and the Parker family’s Kemnay Advisory Services boosting their stakes in Apple Inc., while Platt’s BlueCrest and Iconiq Capital, a multifamily office that manages money on behalf of several Silicon Valley billionaires, bought more Nvidia Corp. shares. Iconiq also added a new position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Money managers overseeing more than $100 million in US equities are required to file a 13F form within 45 days of the end of each quarter to list their holdings in stocks that trade on US exchanges. It offers one of the few glimpses into how hedge funds and some large family offices invest.

Other highlights from second-quarter 13F filings include:

• Gates Foundation, Bill Gates’s philanthropic group, sold almost 2.3 million shares of Microsoft Corp. and bought 7 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway, raising the value of its stake in Buffett’s company to $11.7 billion.

• Iconiq took a new position in Chime Financial Inc., giving it a 4.4% stake in the financial-technology company.

• Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office sold 37 of its positions, including many names in the financial and industrial sectors. Among the stocks he exited were US Bancorp, Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc.